14

I know what you’re thinking… I didn’t pay for the pens because I’m a “star,” right? You’re wrong… I did pay for them much to Emma’s surprise, and although I didn’t give her a twenty-dollar tip in cash, I did actually end up giving her a tip that night.

With some gentle pulling of strings I managed to get the night off for Emma as a belated birthday surprise, and then I set her up with a ticket in the front row that most of our fans would do bad things for. I admit, I was a little worried that she wouldn’t show up and use the ticket. I figured that maybe I was being a little too… well, too much me and I was going to scare her away. But, just a few moments into the first song I looked down into the seats and there she was. She was smiling and laughing and I even saw her cheering along with the other people in the seats around her. That pretty much made my whole week, I wanted her to enjoy herself like a kid wanted to show off in front of his crush. Except that I wasn’t crushing on her, I just had this overwhelming need to be nice to her, to know her.

Of course, I did go as far as to mention her birthday when I was doing my little speech to the fans thanking them for coming to the concert that night. My mouth sometimes has a mind of it’s own, and that night was nothing new.

“Before I let the other guys come out here and say hello though…” I said as I paraded around the stage catching my breath from the last number and making eye contact with as many fans as possible. “I do want to wish a very happy belated birthday to a new friend of mine who is here tonight. I won’t say her name or even point her out since I know she’d probably kill me if I did that…” I said with a giggle as the audience laughed along with me, and Emma did too. “But she knows who she is, and I hope she’s having a great time tonight. Happy Birthday Mystery Girl…”

I winked at her and blew a kiss before I left the stage and the smile that was on Emma’s face stayed with me for the rest of the night.